[Novalug] Hard Drive Data Recovery

[David A. Cafaro]

I don't know why they say the freezer trick is a myth.  I have used  
it on a few occasions and it has worked.

One such drive had a clicking noise (head arm issue).  I placed it in  
a well sealed ziplock freezer bag (getting as much air out as  
possible) and stuck it in the freezer overnight.  Next day, took it  
out hooked it up (via usb-ide cable) and was able to recover all my  
important info off it before it went to clicking again (ok I had to  
do the trick twice to get all the info I need off).

The freezer trick doesn't work all the time, but it's worth a try.  I  
have about a 85% success rate using the freezer technique when the  
drive started clicking.  Sometimes it's just to far gone for even the  
freezer.  Doesn't help with a bad controller though.

-David


On Jul 6, 2007, at 11:52 AM, Mark Smith wrote:

> there are two things you can do yourself (neither of which i have  
> tried).
>
> if you suspect the controller is bad, find another exactly the same
> disk drive.  swap the controllers.
>
> if you suspect a heat related problems.  stuff the disk drive in the
> freezer and read what you can as quickly as possible.  i know someone
> who was successful using this method.  this is listed as a "myth" on
> the page you specified so ymmv.
>
> $219 sounds pretty cheap if you ask me.  if you decide to use, post
> a note here about how they worked out for you.
>
> On Fri, Jul 06, 2007 at 09:14:36AM -0400, Greg Faust wrote:
>> Is anyone experienced with data recovery?  I know this is more of  
>> a hardware
>> question than a linux question.  I have a IBM DeskStar 120GB drive  
>> that is
>> loaded with family photos and videos.  I'm probably going to send  
>> it out for
>> data recovery, but I was wondering if anyone is experienced with data
>> recovery and has access to a semi-clean room.  I'd be willing to  
>> buy a donor
>> drive for parts.  This drive was actually my backup.  I configured my
>> machine for raid0 (sripe) and went to copy the data back onto the  
>> raid from
>> my backup and about half way thorugh the drive holding my backup data
>> started clicking and stopped copying.  Now I can't get the machine to
>> recognize it as a valid device and it just keeps clicking.  I did  
>> find these
>> guys online that charge a $219 flat rate to recover data from a  
>> hardware
>> failure, but I'm not sure how good they are:
>> http://www.aerodr.com/pricing.asp.
>
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>
> -- 
> Mark Smith
> mark at winksmith.com
> mark at tux dot org
> nova-instructor at tux dot org
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David A. Cafaro <dac at cafaro.net>
Cafaro's Ramblings:  www.cafaro.net